Businesses are allowed to choose to swap holidays
According to Official Dispatch No. 9441/TB-BNV, the Ministry of Home Affairs announces the 2026 National Day holiday schedule for administrative agencies, public service units, political organizations, socio-political organizations, businesses and employers.
Accordingly, civil servants and public employees are entitled to 2 days of leave according to regulations, including September 2nd and the immediately preceding day is September 1st. At the same time, workday swaps are implemented from Monday (August 31st) to Saturday (August 22nd), helping officials and civil servants to have 5 consecutive days of leave. For employees in the business sector, National Day holiday is September 2nd and they can choose to take one more day off, September 1st or September 3rd, according to the provisions of the Labor Code.
The Ministry of Home Affairs also encourages employers to apply the 2026 National Day holiday for employees as a plan for civil servants and public employees, and at the same time encourages more beneficial agreements for employees.
Records at many businesses show that the unit has early developed a holiday plan so that employees can proactively arrange work and activities.
In Bac Ninh, Mr. Nguyen Van Tan - Chairman of the Trade Union of Hosiden Vietnam Co., Ltd. - said that union members and workers will have 4 consecutive days off, from August 30 to September 2. According to Mr. Tan, the long holiday helps workers have more time to rest and regenerate labor before the peak production period at the end of the year.
Also in Bac Ninh, Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh - Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Pearl Global Vietnam Co., Ltd. - informed that the enterprise plans to give employees 4 days off from August 30 to September 2 and return to work from September 3. On this occasion, the trade union also organizes activities such as volleyball tournaments, art performances to increase the connection between union members and employees.
In the opposite direction, not every business has finalized the holiday schedule. Mr. Tran Cong Thoai - Chairman of the grassroots Trade Union of Hamaco - Hau Giang Concrete Co., Ltd. (Can Tho City) - shared that the business has not had an official announcement about the National Day holiday schedule. According to him, the arrangement of holidays will depend on the production situation, order volume and actual operating plan.
Currently, there is quite a lot of work, businesses also do not work on Saturday leave, so the leave plan will be balanced after assessing production needs. We cannot finalize whether to swap working days for long-term leave or not" - Mr. Thoai said.
Proposal to the Prime Minister to decide on all holidays
Regarding the announcement of holiday schedules, Deputy Director of the Department of Employment (Ministry of Home Affairs) Chu Thi Hanh said that according to current regulations, the Prime Minister decides specifically the Lunar New Year and National Day holiday schedules annually. The remaining holidays are implemented according to the fixed regulations of the Labor Code.
According to Ms. Hanh, the Ministry of Home Affairs is proposing to the Prime Minister to decide on the entire holiday schedule during the year. This will help management agencies proactively develop holiday plans and announce them early, creating conditions for people, businesses and workers to proactively plan production and business as well as travel and rest. At the same time, reduce the time to get opinions from many ministries and sectors whenever it is necessary to swap working days to create continuous holidays.
According to Mr. Pham Minh Huan, former Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (now the Ministry of Home Affairs), situations such as changing holidays, urgently announcing holiday times cause many workers and businesses to encounter difficulties and be passive in arranging working hours and plans. Therefore, Mr. Huan suggested that the announcement of holiday schedules should be calculated and announced early by functional agencies.
In fact, there are places where holidays can be exchanged, but there are places where they cannot be exchanged when the time for functional agencies to ask for opinions and decisions is too close to the holiday. He also agreed that having regulations and general principles on the time to notify holidays will avoid having to ask for opinions from ministries and sectors every year.
